I was going to be a good little girl this year and not mention movies. I tried so very hard. I got halfway through a thought tonight and then just had to give in. Blame it on the internet movie data base. Their poll question today was "What's cooler, a fast zombie, or a slow zombie?" I say slow, but only out of a sense of self preservation. I can outrun a slow one I'm reasonably certain. ;-) Now I know that I have mentioned movies here and there already, but I just can't contain myself any longer. Be proud of me for being able to wait this long.
There is nothing quite like a good October movie be it in the theater, at a friends house, or alone in your room. Back home we have the most wonderful theater. It is the Mt. Hood Theater and it is a mom and pop joint that plays second runs. For $3 you can see 2 films and the food isn't half bad either. The Mt. Hood Theater is where I first learned to play Pac man and developed my love for Red Vines. It is also where I got to hone my between movie bathroom sneaking skills. See, the Hood only has 2 women's stalls way down in the depths of the theater, so you had to time things juuuuuust right to beat the rush. Otherwise you were stuck in the line that never ended and ran the risk of missing the previews before the new movie.
Back in the good old days the movie didn't start until the projectionist decided that it should. The seven pm start time was more of a suggestion than an actuality. There was no fancy timing switch like there are now a days. The projectionist simply waited until the last person had bought their snack at the concession stand then walked up the ramp to the main floor. From there he would slowly ascend the stairs to the balcony and open up the projector room door. It would take him a few minutes, but then.......out would come that white beam of light and the movie would begin. The Hood didn't always run ads before the show, and sometimes there were not many previews. Most times the big red curtain was down over the screen before the movie and the red sconces on the sides were set to white. When the movie began the white faded away leaving big red triangles in their place.
The balcony was by far the best place to sit. It was like being in another world. But boy were those step tricksy. I don't know how many times I tripped going up them and caused a popcorn explosion. I only fell down them once.....ok twice, but the only thing I bruised was my pride. If you sat at the very top of the balcony there was a couch, then it got too old so they replaced it with a really big roll of carpet. Once that got too ratty, there was just a really long black bench and to my knowledge it's still there.
The only bad thing about the balcony, other than the devious stairs, was the fact that teenagers and sometimes adults went up there to snog more than watch movies. I had ample opportunity to perfect my withering stare and quiet but still menacing shushing noise.
Some of my very favorite memories happened in that theater. The first time I saw Die Hard, the time I saw Scrooged and the audience sang with the film. The time I had my tooth pulled after Thanksgiving and my parents took me to a movie to cheer me up. The first time I got to go to a movie by myself. The 1st, 4th and 5th times that I saw Jurassic Park. The best thing about the theater was that it was literally right down the hill from my house. I could get the binoculars, stand in my front room window and look at the marquee while they were changing it. I could see my mom leave the house to come pick me up after the last film had played, and I could see if my dad had beat us to the theater while mom was still trying to find her keys.
Whenever we go back to Portland I try to fit in a Hood Theater showing. It is the only theater left from my childhood. Sure, the Hollywood is still there, and so are both the Lloyd Center cinemas, but these were the ones close to home. The Rose Moyer was torn down for the vastly superior Division Street Theater. The old Gresham theater is now a La-Z-Boy store, and Eastgate is simply gone. I know that one day the Hood will go too, but for now, I will take what I can get. Did I mention that when I was little I wanted to get married there. I still kinda do.....tee hee. ;-)
So without further delay or ramblings down memory lane, I present some of the movies of October. We would be here all day if I listed all my favs. Give them a look.................if you dare. But I should say, I don't do horror. Well..........I do, but horror for me is Psycho NOT Saw. Horror plays with your mind not dismembers people. True, I have a few bloody picks, but not many.
-The Addams Family - (Wednesday, Gomez, headless roses, the front gate............what's not to love, oh, and I can do a wicked impression of cousin It)-The Adventures of Baron Munchausen- (I know you have never heard of it, but no one does make believe like the Python boys)-Batman and Batman Returns -(Tim Burton is Halloween)-Big - (because who among us has not wished for something and had it come true, oh, and the dancing on the keyboard thing)-The Black Cauldron - (I saw that movie in a drive in theater when I was small and it gave me the heebie jeebies for years)-The Brotherhood of the Wolf - ( a spooky French horrorish film that makes you think, and the cinematography is stunning)-The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari - (this is an OLD fashioned horror film. It isn't scary but it is really good)- Count Duckula (a British TV cartoon just the opening titles were enough to scare me silly and I was in Jr High)-The Dark Crystal -(another movie that scared the pants off me when I was little, but for some reason I rented it EVERY time I went to the video store. I did that for 12 years)-Edward Scissorhands -(like I said, no one does Halloween like Tim Burton, this is an October classic)-The Frighteners- (another of my can't do without Halloween movies!!!!)-Ghostbusters 1 &2 (both good in their own right and heck, there is even a little romance)-Gremlins - (just don't feed them after dark...................I can also do a wicked impression of the head gremlin)-The Goonies -( cuz I really wanted to be one of them, and it was filmed in Astoria after all) -Invasion of the Body Snatchers and now Invasion (I think I know some pod people)-Jumanji (seriously, an interactive board game.....hook me up)-Labyrinth (David Bowie, mall hair, and spandex.....)-The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (a whole bunch of my favorite literary characters in one place, what bliss)-Lemony Snicket's: A Series of Unfortunate Events (-The Mask ("I was just killing time.")-Men in Black (cuz really, wasn't everyone's first grade teacher an alien)-Monsters Inc. ("Kitty!")-The Mummy (the new and the old)-Night of the Living Dead- (saw it when I was a tot and it was just love at first sight, the way horror should be done)-Plan 9 From Outer Space- (so hideously bad it is good, me and Mulder have seen it many times)-The Phantom (a good old fashioned comic book hero who has his own island and some pretty tough dames)-the Prestige (Halloween is all about smoke and mirrors, and this film is VERY well done, it's all about the masks we wear)-Psycho ("mother just isn't feeling like herself today.")-the Scream Trilogy (my other favorite)-Secret Window - (another Stephen King classic)-The Shadow (how can you hate a superhero named Lamont Cranston)-The Silence of the Lambs (2 scariest words ever......"Hello Clarice.")-The Sixth Sense (Christmas is Die Hard, October is Sixth Sense, it's a Bruce Willis world and we are just living in it)-Sleepy Hollow (the very short Disney version) The Stepford Wives -(only cuz that ending scares the stuffing out of me, horror indeed!)-The Tenth Kingdom -(how would you like to walk into a story book, oh and while I'm at it, Alice in Wonderland)-Tremors -(and you thought that living in a small town was peaceful)-The Vanishing -(it was filmed in Oregon, well bits of it, and it really makes you think twice about gas stations)-Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory -(the classic. Nothing is scarier to me. Gene Wilder is just creepy) -Wrong Turn (inbred cannibal mountain men pretty much sums up the film) -Young Frankenstein (cuz who doesn't want to see Franky do a soft shoe)-Young Sherlock Holmes (a teenage Holmes, talking pastries, and Dr. Moriarty!!!)-and I am going to add EUReKA on SyFy to the list. But my top 5 are Disney's Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Addams Family, the Frighteners, Beetlejuice and Hocus Pocus ("amok, amok, amok, amok") It just isn't October for me without them.
What are some of your favorite October flicks?
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